The Game
by basketkitty
Summary: Claire and Ann are bored. Bored, bored, bored. So, what do they decide to do? Play a game! And when the game revolves around a certain grumpy someone, it not only gets tough, but even more fun


**This is a short one-shot I wrote, for RandomJellyBean's birthday. :D There's also a picture to go along with it, which you can find on my DeviantART page: 'I-h8-1337'. :3**

"...I'm bored..."

"Me too..."

"What do you wanna do?""

"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

"I'unno..."

This back and forth banter continued for some time between the blond and redhead. They sighed in unison, their chins on the round table in the middle of the Inn's main room.

"I dunno...what do-" one the girls then stopped, and looked up, her once bored expression now changing to a malicious smirk. "Ooohohohoo...! I just had a great idea!"

The blond continued to stare at the woodwork of the table, not really paying any attention to her friend.

"Did ya hear me, Claire? I said I had an idea of what we can do...!"

At last, the girl came back to earth, and looked up. "Mm? What? What did you say?"

The redhead shook her head, and pointed to a tall young man in old, stained yellow coveralls and a blue cap.

"What about Gray...?" the blond yawned.

"No, not just Gray... What's on his head?"

"Hair?"

"His cap!"

The blond rolled her eyes. "Yes. Of course. How silly of me. He always wears that thing, doesn't he? He must have a shower with it on..."

The redhead laughed. "That's exactly the point! The challenge is to try and take his hat away from him, and see what he looks like without it...! Brilliant, huh?"

Now, Claire was intrigued. "Hmm... That is a pretty cool, idea, actually! What's the prize?"

Ann giggled. "A kiss~"

"From you?! Yeuch!"

"Hey, no way! Not from _me_! From Gray!"

"Pfft... As if! He wouldn't ever kiss anyone!"

"But to get his cap back, he would~"

"Ah...! Ransom!"

"Exactly."

"Me likes your thinking, Ann," Claire laughed. "So, when do we start?"

"First, we'll see if any of the other girls are interested. Then, we start right away!" Ann clapped, her long braid swinging side to side as she bounced from her seat.

Claire grinned, cast a small glance to the boy, then ran after her friend.

The two of them pelted down the streets of Mineral Town, their first destination the Clinic.

"HEY, ELLI!" Ann bellowed as she barged into the tiny house.

A cloud of papers flew into the air, and a small scream of surprised greeted the girl's ears. Yup, scaredy Elli was living up to her name, alright.

"Wh-what is it...?" the brown-haired girl asked as she straightened up, piling the papers into a 'neat' pile. "We're closed today...!"

"Do you wanna help us steal Gray's hat?" Ann asked, getting straight to the point.

Elli stared at her. "Wh-what? No! Of course not! Gray would bite our heads off if we did such a thing! Besides, stealing is wrong," she added, stepping into her older sisterly-role.

Ann rolled her eyes. "Ah...! But that's half the fun!"

The brunette continued with her firm gaze.

Finally the redhead shrugged, letting out a sigh of defeat. "...Fine. I guess it's better, anyways. Less competition! C'mon Claire, let's go see if Karen'll join us!" she said, grabbing her friend's hand, and running outside again.

The two mischief makers then made their way to the Supermarket, and entered more or less the same way as the Clinic.

"HEY! KAREN!" Claire shouted this time. She was greeted with a disgruntled yell from the back of the store, and Sasha came hurrying out, looking very distraught.

"Oh, hello, Claire, Ann. I'm sorry, but Karen has a hang-over. She won't be able to visit with anyone for the rest of the day..." the woman bowed. And as she turned to go back to her daughter, Claire could hear her murmuring, "Really, that child... I don't understand where she gets such behavior... Trying to out-drink Duke...and succeeding...!"

Shrugging, the blond and redhead left again, heading for the Library. "Surely Mary won't object. She has such opportune moments to take his cap! After all, he goes to the library everyday, right?"

However, such wasn't the case. When asked if she wanted to play with them, Mary replied: "N-no... He once dropped his cap, and I made to pick it up and give it to him, but he got so upset with me, I ended up closing the library for a week to recover..." the small librarian explained. "I don't think I'd be able to take it if he were to get angry with me again...."

The two girls nodded, said their goodbyes, and left again.

"We're running out of people, huh?"

"Who do we have left?"

"Popuri."

"Ups, that's right. I bet you fifty G she'll decline."

"Pfft. I ain't gonna bargain such an obvious outcome!"

"Darn..."

In no time, they arrived to the Poultry Farm. And, standing outside was Popuri, trying to pick up an egg while avoiding stepping on any of the chicken's droppings. Not easy.

"Hey, Pops!" the girls called out in unison. "Wanna play a game?"

Looking up from her task, the pink-haired girl waved. "Hiii...! What kind of game?"

"The 'Steal Gray's Beloved Cap' game!" Ann called out as they walked over to where the girl was standing.

Poprui shook her head. "Isn't that like flirting?"

"Well, the prize _is_ a kiss from Gray himself..."

The young girl's eyes widened. "No way! I have Kai, and besides, Rick would be so mad if I did something like that!"

Ann pouted. "Darn. No one wants to play...!"

Claire sighed, and smiled at Popuri, "Okay. We understand. It'll just be the two of us... Bye for now, Pops~"

They then waved to each other, and the original couple made their way back to the Inn.

"Well, we start now, then, right?"

Ann nodded. "Yup! The deadline is this evening~ Better get to planning...!"

Claire nodded. "Mm-hm! What time is it...? Ah! Eleven o'clock...! I better get going!" she said, as she started for the door.

"Hey, what's your plan?!"

"A secret!"

Back at her farm, Claire looked around, wondering what she could use for her ploy...Ah! Her hammer! And luckily, she also had a copper ore on her shelf, too. But...Saibara would just kick her out once she ordered the upgrade... Well, it just meant that she had to fast. Taking the necessary items, she ran to the blacksmith's. Her plan was ingenious.

Once there, Claire noticed Ann pouting outside, her arms folded.

"Hey, what's up?"

Ann growled. "I tried to give him some lunch for later, but Saibara took it, 'cos Gray said he wasn't hungry, and when I tried to take his cap, I tripped and knocked over some tools, so they kicked me out of there..."

Claire listened intently, trying hard to hold back her mirth. She nodded solemnly. "Shame, shame... Well...wish me luck!" she said, and went into the building.

Inside, Claire went straight to Gray, who stood at the anvil, pounding away at a lump of...something. "Hey, Gray! Could you upgrade my hammer for me?"

"Give it to Gramps," he grunted in reply.

Claire frowned, and looked over at the old man. He seemed very irritable, trying to sort papers that Ann must have knocked down as well.

"He's too busy," she said, turning back to the man.

He stopped hammering away, and frowned. "...Fine," he grumbled, taking her items. "Put the money on the table, then, and get out," he added.

Claire did as she was told, but—seeing how this was her chance—snatched his hat, and ran out of the building with it high in the air. "Yes! Yes, I got his hat!" she cried out.

"Hey! Give that back!" Gray yelled, dropping the hammer and ore.

"Gary! Quit shouting! I'm trying to concentrate!" Saibara scolded, but his words were left unheeded as his grandson then shot out of the building, running full-speed after the blond.

Claire laughed, running through her farm, jumping over crops, and fences until she made it to the forest. By now, she was getting worn out, and paused to take a small breather. Behind her, she could hear Gray chasing her, and her body was filled with adrenaline. Using this sudden rush to her advantage, she ran faster, up the slope, towards Mother's Hill.

"Give me my hat!" he roared.

Looking over her shoulder, Claire called back, "Only if you give me a kiss!" Then, as she looked back to where she was running, her foot was caught by a root, sending her flying. She managed to roll onto her back, as she fell, to either soften the blow, or keep Gray's hat clean. She wasn't sure.

However, this was a bit of a problem. Because Gray couldn't slow himself down fast enough, he ended up tripping on the same root, and falling right on top of her. He was able to halt most of his fall by landing on his hands and knees, though, so that he wouldn't turn her into a farmer pancake. Or whatever.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, both breathing heavily, mostly from their running, though, of course.

Then, Gray straightened up, and plucked his cap from Claire's fingers. He pulled it on, and began walking away when the blond finally stood up, calling out. "Hey! I didn't get my kiss!"

And, to her surprise, he stopped. And he turned around, which shocked her even more. But what really took the cake, was that he walked back, grabbed her shoulders, and..._actually kissed her_.

Once he pulled away, he stalked off again, as if nothing had just happened, pulling his cap over his eyes again. Claire simply stood there, completely dumb-founded. After perhaps a minute, realization dawned on her. Jumping up, she threw both of her hands in the air, as she cried out at the top of her lungs...

"YES!"


End file.
